Since my comment on GG inspired all the eye-rolling, I’ll explain myself. I suggested he’d start and some agreed but those who did suggested only at the beginning of the season. I said he’d “breakout” and some thought I’m delusional, which is generally true.
Here is my thinking. As bobre45 responded, GG was part of a “six man team” last year. We couldn’t do without his big body in our small rotation, and our gameplans always called for GG to be extremely careful not to be overly aggressive and end up in foul trouble. He played passively which wasn’t his nature. He can be more aggressive with Sanchez and Obekpa here.
GG isn’t a banger on the blocks, playing with his back to the basket, and isn’t good taking little shuffle passes in that position. He is better 5-7 feet from the blocks. With some separation he can make a move. I don’t have statistics, but it seemed to me that he had a pretty high field goal percentage last year. And when he gets fouled he is a pretty good free throw shooter.
Apart from the fact that more bodies on the team will free GG up to play more aggressively, I think the fact that he is a senior and this is his big chance to step up is not lost on him. This is his big and last opportunity. He has risen to the occasion throughout his career when put in such situations where he needed to really do well with his back against the wall. He did it early in his career in Nigeria where he leapfrogged a bunch of good players to get noticed (I’ve heard some stories). He thrived under the pressure in JC to take it to the next level when he needed to. I think with CO and OS in the fold he will reach new heights because of the internal competition.
As I said above, some people think GG will start the season and see his playing time diminish. GG sees the writing on the wall too, so I think he is going to be a monster right out of the gate to make sure he’ll keep getting substantial minutes.